The three candidates vying for MLA of the Columbia River-Revelstoke went head-to-head in a debate on Oct. 7 in Golden. 

Organized by the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society, candidates Andrea Dunlop of the B.C. NDP, Calvin Beauchesne of the Green Party and Scott McInnis of the B.C. Conservatives were given topics centred around nature and climate.

Calvin Beauchesne told those in attendance that watching the climate crisis worsen as he grew up is what motivated him to run for this election, and he also pointed out how the climate crisis is also an economic issue. 

"In 2021 alone, the climate disasters cost our economy up to 16 billion," said Beauchesne.

Beauchesne added that the climate crisis is also a public health issue in terms of both mental and physical health. 

"We live in a world where there are millions of premature deaths every year because of air pollution from burning fossil fuels, not to mention the health impacts of breathing wildfire smoke exacerbated by climate change," said Beauchesne.

Scott McInnis, however, jumped into the Conservative's "common sense plan" to fix a province in crisis.

"We face a housing crisis, an affordability crisis, a toxic drug crisis, an environmental crisis, a crime crisis, a public safety crisis and an employment crisis," said McInnis. 

Former Windermere teacher Andrea Dunlop centred her focus on her career and how her background in education will help her bring constituents' concerns to Victoria. 

"One of the most rewarding roles of a teacher is to be an advocate to their students to ensure that they have what they need to succeed," said Dunlop.

Affordability 

McInnis responded by saying that the carbon tax isn't working.

"I spoke to a trucker just outside Cranbrook who owns three rigs...his concern was that he spent a half million dollars last year in carbon tax on his rigs," said McInnis.

McInnis further noted that the tax cannot be eliminated as it is federal law, but said that "as soon as the rate drops the next federal election...it's going to have a trickle-down effect."

McInnis' second point was to expand the child care program to $10 a day. "This is going to go to people who need it most, not just a random lottery system," he said. 

Dunlop also touched on childcare and noted that the NDP has created a plan to ensure that all families have access to $10/day childcare. Dunlop discussed the ICBC insurance costs and said that the Conservatives would like to privatize insurance.

"I'd just like you to take a moment to call any of your friends from Alberta and find out if they're paying any less for their insurance with the private system," said Dunlop.

Beauchesne went straight to what he viewed as the root causes of the affordability crisis which he said is "the rising inequality that we are seeing in this province and around the world, oil companies, grocery store companies and real estate companies are making billions in profits while people are struggling to pay for gas, food and rent."

In order to tackle this issue, Beauchesne said that the Green Party is proposing a windfall tax to an industry or company making over $1 billion per year.

"This would affect approximately 35 companies and raise [over] four billion per year in revenue," said Beauchesne. Beauchesne added that the carbon tax was designed to be revenue neutral and that if the carbon tax is taken away, that would also mean that the rebates would also be taken away. 

30 by 30 protecting 30 per cent of B.C.'s lands and water by 2030

The candidates were asked how their government would work or meet to exceed the goal of protecting 30 per cent by 2030.

Dunlop began by saying that since the B.C. NDP formed, the province has had the highest average GDP growth of all the major provinces increased the population and reduced gas emissions by 5 per cent. Dunlop further said that by working with First Nations, Ottawa and local communities, B.C. is moving closer to the goal of protecting 30 per cent of provincial lands by 2030. Dunlop also brought up forestry and conservation.

"We've worked with First Nations title holders to defer logging for over 2.4 million hectares of B.C.'s most old risk growth forest, and the NDP has launched a 300 million First Nations-led conservation fund to help protect more for the rare forest," said Dunlop. 

Beauchesne focused on the old growth strategic review report in his response and said that it is a blueprint for reforming the forestry industry in B.C. in an effort to make it more sustainable in a way that puts the needs of the community before corporate profits. Beauchesne went on to say that the sixth recommendation in the report is an immediate response to ecosystems at very high risk, and note noted that the recommendations in the report have not been implemented, and spoke to the protection of habitat and species. 

"We also need to immediately protect habitat for endangered species including Orca whales, the spotted owl and the woodland caribou that are at risk of being lost forever," said Beauchesne.

Beauchesne noted that it's important Indigenous people are consulted on the 30 by 30 target, and mentioned establishing new provincial parks to further develop eco-tourism.

McInnis said the Conservative's economic reconciliation plan is robust and that he is proud that they're promising to give back 20 per cent of B.C.'s forest to First Nations in B.C. 

McInnis explained that this plan would promote biodiversity and economic prosperity. McInnis said that the plan would "not only manage the forests in accordance with the traditional cultural ways which promotes biodiversity but also so they can reap the economic benefits of that land in a way that they see fit which is in accordance with the United Nations Declaration of Rights on Indigenous People."

McInnis also said that the Conservatives plan on continuing to maintain two-thirds of B.C.'s "never get touched for industrial logging." 

Cost of living and labour challenges 

Beauchesne began by addressing housing and said that the B.C. Green Party is the only party that would introduce legislation to formally recognize housing as a fundamental human right. This plan includes 1.5 billion to build 26,000 new non-market homes per year, and also touched on vacancy control which would tackle landlords unfairly evicting tenants "for the sole purpose of increasing rent."

Beauchesne also said that the Green Party will also advocate the federal government for "legislation to ban the sale of residential units to real estate investment trusts which are companies that buy up real estate to generate a profit for investors."

McInnis referenced a former program called the multi-unit residential program. McInnis said that "the idea for...developers to build rental housing, there's not a lot of incentive there to do that because it's a huge upfront cost and they don't reap a return on their investment for often up to 40 or 50 years."

McInnis explained that the program would allow developers to offset their costs through tax incentives and other forms of income. 

Dunlop touched on the housing crisis but pointed to how the lack of affordable housing is affecting every industry.

"We don't have enough substitute teachers here in Windermere, there's not enough care aids, and it's not because there's not enough out there, it's because they can't afford to live in our communities because of the availability of affordable housing," said Dunlop

Dunlop explained that the NDP's commitment to finding solutions for these issues will be changing legislation to ensure that they can "connect to the infrastructure that's already been built, roads, sewers, water to bring down the cost of construction for those homes...more training spots in our schools because we need the people to build those houses in our community." 

Water Conservation

McInnis noted one of the biggest challenges to water conservation is invasive mussels in the region's waterways and whirling disease. He said that he would work closely with conservation groups to keep measures in place to ensure that the water is clean and healthy, and set up a research chair to conduct studies into the health and sustainability of the region's waterways.

Dunlop focused on glaciers in her response.

"We need to look after our glaciers, to protect them, we must protect them and to do that we're going to have to reduce our CO2 emissions and to amount and to reduce the amount of soot we put up in the air, we have to reduce how much our forests are burning in the summer as well."

Beauchesne spoke to a Green Party plan to commit $100 million to establish watershed boards in every community and leveraging federal funding to establish a $1 billion endowment for the B.C. Watershed Security Fund. 

Forest Sector

Dunlop referenced the fear of forest fires have imposed on her community. "

We are looking at our forest now as a threat rather than the joy they should be for locals," said Dunlop. She added that the forests need to be "thinned around our communities and remove the fuel so the fires will not be so intense."

Beauchesne focused on Indigenous involvement and community forests in forest management. "A community forest initiative is a great way to transfer tenure from large corporations to communities and First Nations," said Beauchesne. 

He went on to add that the province needs to switch to selective logging and said that the industry should pivot to manufacturing products in the province, rather than exporting raw products. 

McInnis agreed with Beauchesne about the need to manufacture products in the province and reduce the exportation of raw products.

"We are putting forward a plan, a credit system where companies who produce more value-added products...are going to pay less tax than companies who are exporting raw logs," said McInnis.